


Lance of the Valley

by ManifestMerlin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Torture, Love Confessions, M/M, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reunions, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, lily of the valley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 16:20:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14500854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManifestMerlin/pseuds/ManifestMerlin
Summary: Shiro has been gone from his hometown for three years after being captured by the galra, when he comes back he realizes he has some unfinished business with Lance, and nothing from his past will stop him from finishing it.





	Lance of the Valley

**Author's Note:**

> This is my gift as part of the shance flower exchange for thighhighbootyprince! I hope you enjoy this piece since I'm not sure what to think about it myself, as such and as always I would really appreciate any and all comments critique you readers may have. I hope you all enjoy it!

Shiro was silent as he rode in the car that was taking him back home to the small provincial town of Arus, a place which he hadn’t been to for three years. As the car drive along the bumpy, downtrodden road Shiro reminisced on why he left in the first place, all starting with the recruitment letter he had gotten right out of highschool. He hadn’t had any idea of what to do right out of highschool, he could get into college easily but affording it was another matter altogether, so the military seemed like a decent idea at the time. Then he actually had to actually enter a warzone. Altea had an uneasy peace with their neighbor Daibazaal until the assassination of Prime Minister Alfor, it was actually through that that he had found out that his friend Allura was Alfor’s daughter,  after that it was chaos as everyone was rushed to the front lines. Shiro didn’t remember much from his time in Daibazaal, not much except for the arena. His unit had been ambushed after going through a mountainous section of terrain, he was the only survivor and was taken alive. He had always heard that the scientists of Daibazaal, called the druids, were vicious and cruel and performed irreparable human experiments but he had always thought that was simply his own nations propaganda. It wasn’t. After his third win the colosseum the druids amputated his arm and replaced it with a prosthetic that was made to be a deadly weapon. Thankfully he had been rescued by a mole, a man named Ulaz, who got him back to an altean military hospital relatively safely.

“You okay back there?” a gruff voice asked.

“Yeah Thace, just… thinking.” Shiro replied, Thace was an informant from the rebel group that opposed the Galran regime, the Blade of Marmora.

“Well try not to, it doesn’t do you any good to reopen old wounds.” Thace responded before turning back to the road.

Shiro knew he was right but it didn’t help much when his mind didn’t seem to want to think of anything but his time in galran captivity. So he decided he might as well think about what he would do when he got back home, which unluckily for Shiro led him to thinking about Lance. Lance had been a part of Shiro’s friend group in high school and Shiro was loathed to admit it but he had always had a crush on the blue eyed boy. He had been ‘pining’, as Keith had affectionately referred to it, since junior year and had originally been planning on asking him out after graduation before deciding to join the army. If he was being perfectly honest with himself part of that decision could possibly be related to him running away from his feelings. It was a very small part of the decision, but it was still a part. 

Shiro’s mental ramblings were interrupted by Thace’s voice, “We’re here.” 

As Shiro stepped out of the car on top of the familiar hill he watched as the evening light shone upon his hometown from behind himself, it made everything look gold. 

“Keep in touch okay?” Thace said, “Everyone back at the base’ll miss hearing from you.” he finished before driving back the way he came.

Shiro decided that there was one place to go, it would probably be closed by now, but only to the public, not to the people he most wanted to see.

*************

As Shiro walked into The Yellow Lion Cafe the first thing he noticed was the group of familiar faces sitting around one of the tables: there was Keith, who was one of his closest friends since childhood, Hunk, who was the cafe’s owner, Allura, Alfor’s daughter who had transferred to their school in sophmore year, Pidge, who’s real name was Katie, and Matt, another good friend from high school who was Pidge’s older brother. As Shiro opened the door which rang the little bell, that was there for just such an occasion, all conversation ceased and all eyes turned to him.

“Oh sorry! We aren’t actually ope-” Hunk said before cutting himself off upon turning around to look at Shiro. 

“Sh-Shiro? Is that really you?” Matt asked quietly.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Shiro said as he sheepishly scratched the back off his neck, “In the flesh and in the metal as luck would have it,” he said as he raised up his prosthetic hand, “Guess I got to use that lame joke Keith came up with back in freshman year after all.” He chuckled morosely.

That seemed to be all it took to get everyone else to shake off their shock and practically tackle Shiro in one enormous group hug as they all bombarded him with questions.

“Where have you been?” Allura asked with a sob.

“The garrison said you were dead!” Pidge interjected.

“What happened to your arm?” Keith, never one to pull punches, said tactlessly.

“What happened to your hair?” Hunk asked, the poor guy looking like he was about to throw up from either elation or shock Shiro didn’t know which. 

“Where’d you get that wicked scar?” Matt said as he tapped his own bridge of his nose, seemingly the only one not shocked that Shiro was still alive, although he was still visibly tearing up.

“Guys please!” Shiro almost shouted, feeling incredibly overwhelmed by everyone talking at once.

Everyone backed away and gave him a slight berth, some like Keith and Allura looked understanding, although Hunk and Pidge both looked fearful which hurt. Shiro sat down and started answering their questions. The entire time he did so however he kept glancing around the room looking for Lance like he might suddenly pop out of that one cupboard Shiro had glanced over at least seven times now.

“So they cut off your arm?” Hunk asked as he started to turn green, the big guy had always had a weak stomach.

“Yeah…” Shiro trailed off grimacing  as he tried to force back the building panic, he thought he could handle this but it was starting to be too much for him.

_ Not in front of everyone else,  _ he thought to himself,  _ Let it out later. _

“Did it hurt when they did?” Pidge asked.

Before Shiro could answer Keith interjected, “Can we stop with the questions, it’s making Shiro uncomfortable, just look at him his eyes are darting everywhere and his hands won’t stop shaking!” he said with a snarl, effectively cutting off the younger girl as Shiro tried to stop his hands from shaking when he hadn’t realised it himself. “But seriously Shiro this-this is a shock, we’ve thought you were dead for  **two** years now.” Keith continued.

“No Keith we didn’t and you most certainly didn’t.” Allura replied.

“Okay so they’ve  **told** us you were dead for two years, all but one of us believed it.” Keith grumpily replied.

“All but one?” Shiro repeated as he felt his blood go cold.

“Lance.” Matt replied, “Y’know the one who you’ve been looking for since you got in here?”

“H-How did you know I was-”

“Some things never change.” Pidge shrugged.

“He’s still single if you wanted to know,” Keith said with a toothy grin as Shiro began choking, “I can give you his apartment address if you want to go tell him, y’know, that you aren’t  **dead!** ”

“W-What do you I-I don’t care about his bachelor status you guys-” Shiro stuttered.

“Don’t ‘you guys’ us Takashi Shirogane, Lance has been grieving for the last two years over  **you,** now, go talk to him. He could use it to say the absolute least.” Allura said.

“Here,” Hunk said as he walked over to one of the empty tables before taking a bundle of white, bell shaped flowers out of the vase and tying a bright blue ribbon around the stems to keep them together, “Take these to him, Lily of the Valley, don’t worry about taking them from me, i’ll just get more.” Hunk said as he practically shoved the makeshift bouquet into Shiro’s hands.

As Shiro held the flowers he recalled that Lily of the Valley was the town’s signature flower, everyone knew the symbolism of these: returning love.

_ They aren't even trying to be subtle,  _ Shiro thought before taking a moment to think,  _ Well at least this way I kill two birds with one stone.  _

“Well Shiro?” Matt asked.

He didn’t even realize that he had been standing still for any longer than a second.

“Well then,” Shiro sighed, “Keith? What’s his address?” 

Keith gave him a wolfy grin, “Thought you’d never ask.”

*************

As Shiro walked the three blocks from The Yellow Lion to Lance’s apartment (perks of living in a small area: everything is within walking distance of everything) he thought about what exactly he was going to say when he saw Lance.

_ I can’t be blunt, ‘Oh hey I know we haven’t seen each other in three years and thought I was dead for two of those but I’m not and wanted to take you on a date’, I’ll give him a heart attack! _

He thought about how he could just explain what had happened to him but a flashback to what happened in the cafe told him that that was a poor idea, if he was going to do this successfully he couldn’t just unload his baggage on Lance right after reuniting with him. He decided he would just let Lance ask his own questions after he opened the door, well after Shiro confirmed that all of this was real for him since he was fairly certain that Lance wasn’t going to believe what was happening. Before he knew it however he was climbing the steps up to Lance’s apartment and deliberating over whether to ring the doorbell or knock when the decision was made for him by an unlatching sound from the other side of the door. When it opened out stepped Lance, decked out in blue lion patterned pajama bottoms and a long sleeved black shirt, who was making a face right in between ‘i don’t want what you’re selling but I’m too polite to tell you to leave’ and ‘i just walked directly into utter chaos and I regret my life choices’.

“Shiro?” Lance asked after an agonizing silence where the two men simply stared at each other, “Is that you, can’t be…” 

“Lance,” Shiro said with a breathy sigh of relief, “No it’s me, I’m really here,”

“They-They said you were  **dead** .” Lance said as tears started to gather in the corners of his eyes.

“Well I can’t say much other than that they lied.” Shiro snorted, “I was actually wondering if I could talk to you.”

“O-Oh of course come in,” Lance said seemingly surprised he had asked before muttering under his breath, “The next time I see Iverson I’m going to take out his good eye, I swear… Do you want me to take those?” he said suddenly gesturing to the flowers.

“Oh yes, they’re for you.” Shiro said as he handed off the bouquet.

Another look of surprise flashed across Lance’s face before he nodded and put the flowers in a vase on his dinner table where he took a seat and gestured for Shiro to do the same.

“So what did you wanna talk about?” Lance said once Shiro sat down.

“Well I wanted to talk to you about-” Shiro began before he was interrupted,

“Blue no!” Lance said looking over to his TV. Shiro followed Lance’s gaze to see a paused soccer match and a silver haired cat playing with the remote when it happened to press play and started the match again right as one of the teams made a goal, causing the crowd to begin to cheer.

_ Cheering crowds, a stadium, a competition, the arena, the galrans, there were chants coming from all around him everywhere it was too loud, chants of ‘Victory or Death! You win, or you die!’ filled the air as Shiro felt himself slide off the chair and tumble to the ground as he felt blood drip between his hands. _

*************

“Shiro!” Lance shouted as he leapt over and turned off the TV before crouching in front of Shiro’s shuddering, sobbing form. “Shiro can you hear me?”

“N-No… don’t send me back… I won’t hurt them again don’t make me do it I don’t want to do it don’t make me do it you already took my arm haven’t you done enough please-” Shiro continued muttering.

“Shiro just listen to me alright, you’re having a panic attack ok? Just listen to my voice, it isn’t real and just breath. Deep breaths Shiro, deep breaths, in… and out, in… and out.” Lance said calmly giving Shiro an anchor to grasp onto, literally as well as figuratively as Shiro suddenly wrapped his arms around him in a hug and buried his face in Lance’s neck as his breathing evened out. They sat there until Shiro slowly moved his tearstained face away from Lance’s neck and stared at the ground.

“How long was that?” he said weakly.

“I don’t know,” Lance said before he looked to the wall clock, “About half an hour?”

“Oh-Oh I’m sorry you had to see that Lance I just I- never mind I’ll get out of your hair and stop burdening you…” Shiro said as he started to get up on still shuddering legs.

“Hold it,” Lance said as he grabbed Shiro’s prosthetic arm bringing him to a sudden stop, “You aren’t ‘burdening me’ alright? I’m worried about you okay? So stick around and i’ll make you some tea and then you can talk if you want to and then tell me what you wanted to, does that sound good?” he said before smiling.

Shiro just nodded his head before sitting back down at the table while Lance made two mugs of tea for the both of them. When he came back and gave Shiro his mug he spoke again.

“So do you wanna talk about what happened, oooor nah?” Lance said.

“I-I wanna tell you… you deserve to know after what you saw.” Shiro said, his voice still sore, “It started in some mountains…”

*************

Shiro hadn’t been able to get through much before getting close to another breakdown but he was able to tell Lance most of the important stuff, he expected Lance to respond with either disgust or horror when he described what he had done in the arena but instead he remained calm and compassionate throughout.

“Feeling better being able to let it all out?” Lance asked.

“Yeah… a little.” Shiro responded.

“That’s good,” Lance said, “Now then what did you come here to say originally? It seemed pretty important.”

“O-oh that,” Shiro said before swallowing, “I-It was nothing…”

“Shiro…” Lance said with a warning tone, “You wouldn’t made a trip specifically to see me late in the evening over ‘nothing’.”

“The flowers…” Shiro said giving a silent prayer to Hunk for his purposeful lack of subtlety, “What do they mean?”

Lance seemed puzzled by the shift in subject but he answered anyways, “Lily of the Valley represents love that is returning, everybody knows th- oh. Oh. Are you-?”

“Yes Lance, I just wanted to tell you how I feel, Keith’s been on me about my pining since highschool, and well after almost dying countless times I realized life is too short to live with regrets, so yeah I was going to ask if you wanted to go out with me,” Shiro said before chuckling darkly, “Guess I screwed that up with the stunt from earlier though huh?”

“Nope.” Lance replied cheerfully, “You didn’t screw up anything at all, my answer was going to be the same regardless, Hunk was the one on me about my pining, no way in hell am I turning you down because you were traumatized by war. If anything I would probably be more concerned if you were the exact same after what you went through!”

“So what you’re saying is?” Shiro asked hopefully.

Lance reached over and grabbed his metal hand before bringing it to his lips for a kiss, “Yes, i’d love to go out with you Shiro.”

Shiro felt in that moment that it was almost too fitting that Hunk had given him the Lily of the Valleys, after all love was returned in more ways than one that day.

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed being a part of this exchange! It was really very enjoyable and I would honestly like to see it become and annual thing, Again for this work in particular please leave a comment telling me what you think.


End file.
